Career

How to Handle Change That’s Out of Your Control

But when it’s unexpected and throws us off course, it just plain sucks. Humans are creatures of habit so when our routine is disrupted it feels like our world is spinning out of control. Even as an entrepreneur, traveler, or stay at home mom, we all create some sort of daily routine.

And anyone who says they like change hasn’t experienced a change they didn’t like, but they will, and when they, do they’ll change their opinion… see what I did there?

Clearly, this is a very different blog post because yes, I’ve experienced huge changes in my life and it’s thrown me for a loop. In less than a week, my counterpart on the West Coast quit, our company was bought out, and my boss is leaving for greener pastures (he literally is going to live in the countryside). I’m sorry, what?

The biggest hit was my boss leaving. I have been fortunate enough to have only worked in places where I consider my coworkers family. After all, in most cases you spend more time with them than you do your actual family so needless to say, I’ve been crying all day.

Oh yeah, and it’s “that time of the month”. So all of that is one lethal combination for an emotional blog post. But don’t worry – I add lots of value even to my emotional blog posts, so here we go…

If you don’t expect it, accept it

Unless we’re choosing to make the changes, change is usually unexpected. And when it’s unexpected it’s out of our control, and the only thing you can do when something is out of your control is to accept it.

So in my case, I’m upset that my boss is leaving but thrilled he’s able to live out his own dream now, and it would be selfish of me to feel otherwise. I can either sulk about it or accept it – I choose the latter.

Is there a hidden opportunity?

This was my first job in the city of my dreams with a team that actually made me pass up an opportunity for another job with more money because the people were so great. I’ve only been here for 6 months, but my boss and I just clicked. Him leaving was really hard for me to see any sort of opportunity because saying goodbye is never easy.

However, my boss brought to my attention that this could mean opportunity for growth since the team will be taking on more responsibility. Not to mention one of my other teammates, whom I also love dearly, will be assuming my current boss’s role, so the transition should be seamless.

Never rule out the possibility of an opportunity even if your current situation is less than desirable.

Time heals all

It’s so cliche and I hate when people tell me this, but time really does heal. It’s an out of sight, out of mind kind of thing. When someone exits your life for whatever reason, the longer you’re away from that person the easier it will be to embrace the change.

This too shall pass.

Every situation, good and bad, is temporary and the longer we go without things being the way they were, the more we can adapt. Think about a time you left a job, went through a breakup, or lost a pet… The sting is still there when you think about it, but odds are you’re at a much better place now than before because of time.

What is a recent change in your life and how have you been handling it? Tell us below!